


The night everything changed

by melian225



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon Compliant, Community: HPFT, Gen, Hogwarts, Marauders' Era, School, Werewolf
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-04
Updated: 2017-01-04
Packaged: 2018-09-14 15:41:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9190088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melian225/pseuds/melian225
Summary: Lyall Lupin has no idea how he's going to educate his child. Then one night a world of possibilities open.**Winner of HPFT’s New Beginnings Challenge**





	

The night everything changed was dark and foreboding, and the harsh February wind rattled the windows in their panes. Ill-fitting doors creaked ominously and the fire flickered, as though unsure whether it was able to continue with the gales bursting down the chimney. What seemed to be a cross between snow and sleet blanketed the small cottage, and the young family gathered beneath a threadbare blanket, shivering in the cold and trying to fill their stomachs with crumpets, their larder not holding anything more substantial.

Lyall looked at his wife and child, unable to hide his despair at how their lives had turned out. He couldn’t provide the kind of lifestyle he wanted for them – his job at the Ministry didn’t pay much, and his superiors didn’t seem to respect him enough to give him that long hoped-for promotion. Hope, his wife, had been forced to give up her work in order to look after their son, and to home-school him to the best of her ability. After all, no educational facility, magical or otherwise, would even consider enrolling him. Not when they found out what he was.

Suddenly, all at the same time, the fire flared, the windows rattled even harder and there was a banging at the door. Lyall froze. Surely no one had tracked them here, no one who had figured out their secret? The waning moon shone through the window – they were so isolated they didn’t need curtains for privacy, which was just as well considering they couldn’t afford them anyway. He glanced at his son, glad he had recovered from when the moon shone at its fullest the previous week. Even if they did have a visitor, there would be no incriminating evidence.

The banging continued, and Lyall and Hope looked at each other. They had no family, no one who would even want to visit them. This intruder could only mean trouble, and trouble was one thing they had enough of already. Then, just as suddenly as it began, it stopped.

“Lyall,” a voice called over the noise of the wind, “would you mind opening the door, please?”

Hope looked questioningly at him, and he shook his head. He knew that voice, and it couldn’t mean anything good.

“No,” he shouted instead. “You can’t say anything that I want to hear.”

Hope raised her eyebrows and glanced at Remus. The boy was sitting in front of the fire, fiddling with an ancient set of Gobstones as he warmed his fingers up.

“Lyall,” the voice said again. “It is rather cold out here, you know. It would be good manners to let me in.”

Furious, he strode across the small room and opened the door, letting the harsh wind into their cottage. “You can have nothing to offer us, Dumbledore,” he said, struggling to keep hold of the door as the wind took hold of it. “So I’d be honoured if you’d just leave us be.”

The old man smiled. He looked pretty much like he had when Lyall was at school, only the hair was now white rather than grey, and the beard somewhat longer. He’d be tucking it into his belt soon, Lyall thought, trying to shield both his poverty and his son from the man he’d once thought would be in charge of Remus’ education.

“Ah, but I think I do,” he said, his eyes twinkling from behind his half-moon glasses. “Have something to offer you, that is.”

Lyall could never say afterwards how or why he relented, but it seemed to be no time at all before Albus Dumbledore was inside their tiny cottage and smiling at Hope. “Forgive me, Mrs Lupin, I don’t think we’ve been introduced. My name is Albus Dumbledore, and I am Headmaster at Hogwarts School.” He offered her a hand, still smiling genially, and it would have been impossible for her to refuse it.

“Pleased to meet you,” she said. “Hope Lupin. Would you like a crumpet?” She held out the half-filled plate they had been eating from, her beauty and gentleness enough to distract attention away from the cracks in the plate and the shabbiness of her dress.

Dumbledore accepted a crumpet and smiled. Was it Lyall’s imagination or was the fire suddenly warmer, more welcoming? He’d not noticed Dumbledore do anything to it, but then again the man’s magic was far superior to his own limited capabilities. _He could probably fix this whole cottage without even moving his wand_.

He then turned to the boy, also offering a hand. “And you must be Remus.”

Remus was naturally shy, and circumstances had made him more so. He hardly ever had anyone to play with other than his parents. He wasn’t allowed friends his own age, in case something slipped out about his condition, and they rarely had visitors.  In this case, however, he smiled broadly and took the man’s hand. “Pleased to meet you,” he said in the formal manner they had taught him so many years before.

Lyall was surprised at his son’s reaction, until he realised what must have caused it. He had long known Remus was a lonely child, but hadn’t seen much of a way around it, given his condition. He and Hope had done their best to alleviate the loneliness, but he recognised that having your parents as playmates, with no change, would be trying for anyone. Albus Dumbledore represented a change from the sameness of their lives: a new and friendly face, which was something the child hardly ever saw.

“Likewise.” Dumbledore’s eyes twinkled. “I see you have some Gobstones. I haven’t played that in years. Do you think you could remind an old man of the rules?” And in no time at all, he was sitting on the floor with Remus, receiving a lesson on Gobstones.

Lyall could see the boy’s eyes going from the kind face of Albus Dumbledore to his own face, probably lined with worry. He couldn’t see how Dumbledore, brilliant though the man was, could help them. Remus’ condition was untreatable.

After quarter of an hour, Lyall could stand it no longer. Interrupting the Gobstones game in front of him, he burst out with what had been bothering him ever since the old man’s arrival. “What is it you’re here for, Dumbledore? What do you want?”

Dumbledore looked up, his eyes bright blue over the half-moon glasses. “Me? Why, I wanted to meet young Remus here.  See how he might fit in at my school.”

Remus dropped the Gobstone in his hand. “I can’t go to school,” he said. “I might hurt someone.”

“Ah, but mine is a special school,” Dumbledore said. “You’ve heard of Hogwarts, I presume?”

Remus nodded. “I still can’t go,” he said, and Lyall backed him up.

“We can’t send him there,” he said quickly. “He’s not ready.”

Dumbledore merely raised his eyebrows. “How old are you, Remus?”

Remus swallowed. “Eleven next month.”

“In which case you are the perfect age to attend Hogwarts.”

Lyall pulled Remus to his feet and jerked him towards the back of the room, before turning to face Dumbledore himself. “He can’t go. He knows that, and he accepts it. Don’t go putting ideas in his head.”

Dumbledore had now stood to face him. He was significantly taller than Lyall was, and appeared completely unperturbed by his outburst. “I see no reason why he cannot attend Hogwarts this autumn,” he said, his voice still as pleasant and unthreatening as ever.

“That’s because you don’t know,” Lyall spluttered. “He’s … he’s … he’s not able to go, and that’s that.”

“On the contrary, I am very much aware of Remus’ ailment,” Dumbledore said. “Bitten some six or seven years ago, wasn’t it?”

Lyall stood absolutely still. What? Dumbledore _knew_? What’s more, Dumbledore knew and still thought he could go to school? What was the man on?

“But … how can you …”

Lyall knew Dumbledore gave the impression of being omniscient, all-knowing, but he didn’t see how the man could possibly have known this. No one knew. Some had suspected, sure, which was why they had to keep moving, but no one knew. They’d not told a soul.

“I have my ways,” Dumbledore said. “Shall we sit? It would be much more comfortable.”

Hope busied herself with making a pot of tea while Dumbledore and Lyall sat on the sofa, Remus back on the floor in front of them so as not to miss a word.

“I have connections amongst the Dark creatures of Britain,” he said, clearly aware the Lupins were all hanging on his every word. “I heard of a werewolf talking about what he had done, boasting, even, and even using your name, Lyall. It wasn’t long before I was able to confirm the child was Remus.” He gave the boy a sympathetic look. “I imagine things have been rather difficult for you.”

“That’s one way of saying it.” Lyall didn’t like acknowledging in front of Remus just how hard it had been since the incident. Hope had been forced from work to look after him, after it became clear he would never be able to attend a normal school. He’d not been allowed friends, playmates, in case he said something. Should anyone have learned about him, he would probably have never have seen them again, such was the prejudice. And although they had never mentioned it to Remus, he’d been deathly worried about the boy’s education. Hope could teach him Muggle lessons – maths, spelling, history and the like – but, as a Muggle herself, anything magical would have fallen to him. And he was the breadwinner, their only means of income, and couldn’t leave his job. What would have happened to the boy? He was friendly, clever, loving – the best son a man could ask for. Except for one thing, of course.

“I have been discussing Remus’ problem with the school Matron, Madam Pomfrey,” Dumbledore continued, “and we believe it can be managed. We will isolate a cottage in Hogsmeade, away from the school and protected by enchantments, for him to transform in once a month. The cottage will only be accessible by secret tunnel from the school itself, so he won’t be able to get out. Once the full moon is over, he will go back to the school and can recover in the hospital wing until he is able to return to class.”

Lyall stared at him in astonishment. “You … you think he can go to school?”

“I don’t see why not,” Dumbledore said pleasantly. “Oh, thank you, Mrs Lupin.” He held out a hand to receive the cup and saucer she was offering him. “Just the way I like it. Now, where were we?”

Remus was the one who answered.  “You think I can go to school,” he said, now up on his knees to be closer to the conversation, eagerness and excitement written all over his face. “Do you mean it? Do you really think I can?”

“I do think that,” Dumbledore said. “Naturally, we won’t broadcast your ailment, as there is still a prejudice against werewolves. The other students won’t know. But yes, I see it as an eminently manageable condition. As long as we take the proper precautions, you will be more than welcome at my school.”

Remus’ eyes were shining, and Lyall hadn’t seen his face glow like that since – well, ever. “I can go to school?” he asked again, as though unconvinced he wasn’t hearing things.

“Yes, Remus, you can go to school,” Dumbledore said, a broad smile across his kind face. “Naturally, there are some things I will need to sort out with your parents, but you will be more than welcome at Hogwarts this autumn.”

Lyall felt as though a hundredweight had been lifted from his shoulders. He turned to Hope and saw the same relief, the same lightness of heart that he felt, and the same excitement that he could see in their child. If anyone was going to be able to pull this off, he felt confident Dumbledore could.

“You don’t know what this means to us,” he said, his voice heavy with unsuppressed emotion.

Dumbledore gave him an understanding smile. “I think I have an idea,” he said, “especially if Remus’ reaction is anything to go by.”

Lyall couldn’t help but smile as he watched his son, who was literally jumping with delight and had run to give his mother a hug. Wiping a tear from his eye, he mouthed “Thank you” to Dumbledore and then joined Hope and Remus in their embrace. It was unbelievable. Their whole world had changed.

“So, Remus,” he said, “we have a few months preparation time. How about you start making a list of what you might like to take to Hogwarts with you in September?”

 


End file.
